Alcohol is a terrible messer when it comes to food

Alcohol is notorious for leading people to overeat because of its physiological effect on appetite and because it is generally consumed in a social setting where food is plentiful.

There’s no place to store alcohol in our bodies the way we do food; therefore the body must use incoming alcohol preferentially as its energy source  in order to keep it from reaching toxic levels. This gives alcohol its natural ability to stimulate appetite by depleting the glycogen (carbohydrate) stores in order to metabolize it, causing you to crave carbohydrates.

Alcohol also acts as a diuretic, increasing urination thus decreasing electrolytes like sodium. Again we now begin to crave the things we are losing – hence our desire for salty carbohydrate – like foods ( e.g. chips, crisps, dips, crackers , etc.,).

When you combine alcohol’s natural effects on appetite with its well-known un-inhibiting effects at a destination full of palatable foods, you  have hungry people who often end up with no cares about what and how much food they consume.


Source; Neal Spruce,